This disclosure relates generally to a multi-layer circuit member and, more particularly, to a multi-layer circuit member having an improved reference circuit.
Electronic devices commonly use multi-layer circuit boards or members for transmitting and receiving high speed as well as high data rate signals. With the desire for higher speed electronics in the same or smaller footprints, an ongoing challenge exists to increase the density of the multi-layer circuit boards. Some multi-layer circuit boards include one or more reference or ground planes embedded within the circuit board together with various signal conductors for transmitting the desired information or data along or through the circuit board. While such reference planes act as an electrical shield, they also typically act as a portion of the return path for the various signal conductors of the circuit board. Energy or noise transferred to a first reference plane from another source such as a circuit component, signal conductor, or another reference plane acting as a return path for other signal conductors, may affect signals conducted by signal conductors coupled to the first reference plane. In other words, such energy within a circuit board may sometimes be undesirably transferred to other circuitry within the circuit board which may cause errors in the system and otherwise render the system less reliable or inoperative. It is therefore desirable to minimize the impact that any energy source may have on a set of signal conductors even though the signal conductors may be separated from the energy source.